- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,192,892
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
We’ve reached the point where these Cubs now feel like someone you dated some time ago. You see a couple of good things, but your brain just keeps reminding you of all of the painful moments from the past. Even against two teams that have already played themselves firmly into wait til next year territory, two nice looking road wins isn’t nothing. A couple of strong pitching performances back to back and some signs of the offense coming back to life wants to feel good. But of course, before these two nice games were three losses to these same two teams right before it. And before that, it was pretty ugly for a while. And so, it’s going to take an awful lot of this to get us to start leaning back into it.
And so, we friend zone this team. We don’t want to hear it talking about this time is going to be different. We’ve been burned. Hard. They tried in April and into early May to show us that not only could this team be a playoff team but a team that could win at least a series after it gets there, like its predecessor did. But we’re savvy baseball fans. We’re not going to be fooled so easily. Yeah, these games looked good. But we’ve been fooled before, only to get burned. Nothing has really changed. These are the same players that were losing all of those games.
I mean, I guess Matt Shaw came back. I don’t think that’s nothing. But I didn’t have Shaw on my scorecard as locker room leader. He’s one of the youngest guys on the team. I just think he’s a key bat against left handed starters. The Cubs haven’t faced one this week and he hasn’t started a game. And they lost the first couple of games after he got back. So that isn’t a change. At least not yet. None of the wounded starters is back. I mean, Edward Cabrera is. And he started one of the wins. But he’s been back for a little while now. He was also here for some of the losing. So that isn’t a change. He hasn’t been all that good as a Cub. The potential is there. But will he put it together?
Then Seiya Suzuki had that grand slam on Thursday. That’s proof of concept in that it qualifies as an actual hit with runners in scoring position. He crushed that double on Friday that started the scoring in that game. Not RISP, but still scored a run. Then Michael Busch added a three-run homer. You can’t have a grand slam or a three-run homer without them being hits with runners in scoring position. All those runners aren’t on first. Big hits with RISP. Two days in a row. A good start from Cabrera and a very good start from Javier Assad.
Doubles. Homers. That’s slug. Why did this team stop slugging? Every position player on this team has the potential given ample playing time to hit 15 homers. Many of them have the potential to hit twice that. Why did the slug go away? Whether or not you like OPS as a simple barometer of offensive prowess, it does have some value that way. It’s a really simple stat, even if it’s a weird one for us to add two numbers that have different denominators together into one number. Also, it still has some predictive value for a player or a team. It’s a simple metric. On base. Plus slug. That slug is important. I would argue that it’s the more important part of the two. It’s hard to beat teams with walks and singles alone. You’ll do it a handful of times per season. But it just isn’t sustainable.
This team was a lot of fun back in April and early May, no? We had a lot of good times together. So many walk-offs. I wish we could get back to the way things were back then. Those were the best days. Maybe it would be different this time? Maybe we’ve learned from our mistakes.
Three Positives:
- Javier Assad threw six innings. He allowed three hits and a walk. He struck out five. This is Javy when things are good. Worked into some trouble, but so elusive and evasive. Feels like a second generation championship era pitching offspring. Managing and inducing weak contact.
- Michael Busch had the big three-run homer and also drew a walk. Made the game comfortable.
- Seiya Suzuki doubled his first two times up. Both were smoked, the second one just didn’t have the kind of lift to get out of the park, particularly to center. Drove in the first run.
Game 70, June 12: Cubs 5, Giants 1
You must be registered for see images attach
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Javier Assad (.258). 6 IP, 21 BF, 3 H, BB, 0 ER, 5 K (W 4-1)
- Hero: Seiya Suzuki (.217). 2-4, 2 2B, RBI, R
- Sidekick: Michael Busch (.199). 1-3, HR, BB, 3 RBI, R
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Ian Happ (-.067). 0-4, R
- Goat: Moisés Ballesteros (-.049). 0-4
- Kid: Dansby Swanson (-.039). 1-3
WPA Play of the Game: For the second straight day, the big hit is a Seiya Suzuki fourth inning extra-base hit. This one, an RBI double with a runner at first and one out. Scored the game’s first run. He ended up on third himself (and later scored the second run) after a throw towards the plate. (.178)
Giants Play of the Game: Bryce Eldridge singled to right leading off the fourth inning for the Giants with the Cubs up two. (.048)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 69 Winner: Seiya Suzuki received 124 of 145 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
- Michael Busch +23
- Ben Brown +11.5
- Pete Crow-Armstrong/Michael Conforto +10
- Ian Happ/Trent Thornton, Carson Kelly +7.5
- Caleb Thielbar/Phil Maton/Jameson Taillon -8
- Matt Shaw -10
- Dansby Swanson -12
- Seiya Suzuki -23.5
Up Next: Game two in San Francisco Saturday night. It’s Ben Brown Day for anyone who celebrates. Ben is 2-2 with a 1.74 ERA and has been the bright, shining star of this team. They ended up needing extra innings to do it, through no fault of Ben’s, but the one game the Cubs won against the Giants in Chicago was Ben’s start. The Cubs are 11-7 when Ben Brown pitches in a game, 4-2 when he starts.
Trevor McDonald (2-3, 4.15) threw five innings, allowing a run on four hits and three walks while striking out six last Sunday in Chicago. The Giants eventually won that game. Despite a relatively pitching friendly home park, he’s been better on the road (3.27 in four starts) than at home (5.29 in three starts).
I’m not going to lie, three straight wins would be cool. It’s going to take more than that for me to be over the last month or so of baseball, but you know. It’s a start.
Continue reading...
